Recovery Quote Of The Week: August 31, 2011

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What do you first do when you learn to swim? You make mistakes, do you not? And what happens? You make other mistakes, and when you have made all the mistakes you possibly can without drowning - and some of them many times over - what do you find? That you can swim? Well - life is just the same as learning to swim! Do not be afraid of making mistakes, for there is no other way of learning how to live!
Alfred Adler

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Eating Disorders News and Views: August 2011

Anorexics Lack Sense of Belonging, Study Finds
news.com.au

RECOVERING from anorexia nervosa is so difficult for many sufferers because the eating disorder satisfies an intense need to belong, an Australian researcher says.

Social anthropologist Megan Warin believes many anorexics might not seek treatment because they find the disorder incredibly seductive.

Based on her work with people who have the eating disorder, the Adelaide University professor has found that anorexics often lack a sense of belonging and feel disconnected from society.

By controlling their eating, they end up belonging to a group of people who are essentially successful at dieting.

"Anorexia is very empowering for people in the early stages of the illness," she told AAP.

"In fact, they don't see it as an illness, they see it as a lifestyle.

"It's unusual because it's an illness they want to have.
Read Lack Sense of Belonging in full


Lightlake Therapeutics Inc. Set to Begin Phase II Clinical Trials of Binge Eating Disorder Treatment
Market Watch

LONDON, ENGLAND, Aug 24, 2011 (Filing Services Canada via COMTEX) -- Lightlake Therapeutics Inc. (LLTP - OTCBB),("Lightlake" or "the "Company"), an early stage biopharmaceutical company currently developing a nasal spray for the treatment of overweight and obese patients with Binge Eating Disorder, today announced that its patient testing stage of the Phase II clinical trials will start August 26th, 2011

Dr. Roger Crystal, CEO of Lightlake commented, "We are excited to commence the definitive stage of testing of a product that we believe will be a solution to a disease thought to affect a significant proportion of obese and overweight patients today. We recently completed stability testing in an effort to ensure that our nasal spray adheres to internationally recognised safety standards in delivering an effective treatment. Moreover, we have an excellent control group in place, as we were able to select 138 patients from over 900 applicants wanting to participate in our trials in Helsinki. Dr. David Sinclair, our Chief Scientific Officer, revolutionized the way we treat alcoholism and drug addiction through his research into opioid antagonists, and we are confident that in working with him, we can develop an opioid antagonist derived nasal spray for the treatment of those with Binge Eating Disorder."
Read Clinical Trials in full


Study Links Obesity to Brain Disorder
news.com.au

IT seems an odd idea, but scientists believe giving obese people the same psychological counselling as those with anorexia nervosa could help their weight battle.

The Australian scientists came up with the theory after discovering that although obese people and anorexics weigh in at opposite ends of the scales, they share a similar condition affecting the brain.

Both groups have executive function disorders (EFD), which means they have problems organising their daily lives.

Previous studies have linked anorexia to EFD, with scientists pointing to the rigidity and tight control those with the eating disorder exert over not just food but their entire lives as evidence of the brain disorder.
Read Obesity/Brain Disorder in full


Psychiatrist Supports Controversial Diet Book for Kids
Fox News

Maggie Goes on a Diet, a new book by children's author Paul Michael Kramer, is drawing fire from those who believe it inappropriately focuses children on their weight and, by doing so, could lead to eating disorders. In the book, Maggie, a 14-year-old girl who is very overweight and has a negative self-image goes on a diet, works hard at it, loses weight and becomes a soccer star at school. She likes herself better, so the story ends happily-ever-after.

I support Kramer's book. With childhood obesity rates at 17 percent of all children and adolescents (per the Centers for Disease Control), a figure three times that one generation ago, it's time to start teaching kids to control their appetites. It's really that simple.

Nutritionists and child psychologists who charge that Kramer's book will cause eating disorders presume that telling children to eat healthily—even if that means eating less and exercising—will make them sick. This is akin to suggesting that if we advise them to abstain from, or simply even limit, sexual activity that they will become sexually repressed and suffer from a sexual disorder. I don't buy that—at all.
Read Psychiatrist Supports in full
Here's my post about Maggie Goes On A Diet


Sheppard Pratt Programs to Raise Eating Disorder Awareness
The Towerlight

In response to the growing number of Americans suffering from a diagnosable eating disorder, The Center for Eating Disorders at Sheppard Pratt will hold Expanded College Outreach Programs to raise awareness.

According to the American Psychological Association, at least five million Americans suffer from a diagnosable eating disorder. Studies from the APA Public Interest Government Relations Office found that women are more prone to eating disorders than men, particularly college-aged women.

Jennifer Moran, a staff psychologist at Sheppard Pratt’s Center for Eating Disorders, will serve as the college liaison for the college outreach programs. She said the need to raise eating disorder awareness is imperative.
Read Sheppard Pratt Programs in full


The Meaning Of Balance For Body Image
By Margarita Tartakovsky, MS

In April, I interviewed a researcher about attaining a work-life balance. Her first words to me were: There’s no such thing as balance.

And trying to reach a so-called balance is akin to reaching perfection. In other words, it’s not going to happen, and we’re going to drive ourselves insane along the way.

(Here’s the piece if you’re interested.)

Both Christie and Anna wrote thought-provoking posts also questioning the idea of balance. (By the way, I loved Ashley’s post on balance, too.)

But when people say balance, I think what they typically mean is a happy medium or not residing on either side of the spectrum. At least that’s the way I view balance.

With body image, I see a deeply negative body image at one end of the spectrum – where you hate your body, ignore its signals and rarely look after it – and an unrealistically positive body image at the other – where you shoo away every negative, yucky thought, deny your feelings and become the Pollyanna of body positivity.
Read Meaning Of Balance in full


Editor Slammed for Criticising 'Fat Models'
9 news

A prominent Australian fashion writer has been slammed for accusing Myer of using models who were "too fat" in its plus-size runway show.

Damien Woolnough, fashion editor at The Australian, published an article in which he argued: "Big can be beautiful but fat should not be in fashion."

Yesterday's Myer show featured women ranging from size 14 to size 22 and internationally renowned model Robin Lawley even sashayed down the catwalk.

Despite backlash from body image experts, Woolnough stood by his comments when interviewed by Nine News but said he never meant his comments to personally attack any of the models.

"I think the industry for a long time has copped criticism over models that are too skinny, and at yesterday's show we had models who were too fat," he said.
Read Editor Slammed in full


Eating Disorders Model Established in London
The London Free Press

A treatment program for adults with eating disorders - the first of its kind in Ontario - is to be based in London.

Its operating cost is $2.4 million and it will treat as many as 100 people a year in both a residential centre and as out-patients.

"What we need to do is establish continuity of care . . . across all phases of the illness" and with people of all ages, Health Minister Deb Matthews said Tuesday.

Psychiatrists, nurses, dietitians and nurse practitioners will together be part of the new adult program, to be set up through London Health Sciences Centre, where a publicly funded program already exists for children and teens with eating disorders.

"There's no place in the world like this that has the team approach," said Kelly Hall-Holland, who heads the London-based Eating Disorders Foundation of Canada. "It's a dream come true."

The location of the residential centre hasn't been decided.

Hall-Holland hopes the group can make use of the former Cuddy home in Strathroy, which sits on an estate owned by Fanshawe College and is used for the school's horticultural program.

The estate's serene, pastoral atmosphere would be ideal as a residential setting for people with eating disorders, Hall-Holland said.

"They need the most calming atmosphere possible."

Her daughter Michale died in 2009 at age 27 after a battle with anorexia. That struggle spanned more than a decade and included treatment at a private clinic in California because none was available in Ontario.
Read ED Model London in full


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Inspirational Recovery Quotes: Positivity

A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events and outcomes. It is a catalyst and it sparks extraordinary results.
Wade Boggs

You are capable of much more than you are presently thinking, imagining, doing or being.
Myles Munroe

Choosing to be positive and having a grateful attitude is going to determine how you're going to live your life.
Joel Osteen

If we think happy thoughts, we will be happy. If we think miserable thoughts, we will be miserable.
Dale Carnegie

Man often becomes what he believes himself to be. If I keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing it. On the contrary, if I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning.
Mahatma Gandhi

I have found that if you love life, life will love you back.
Arthur Rubinstein

Adopting the right attitude can convert a negative stress into a positive one.
Hans Selye

A strong, positive self-image is the best possible preparation for success.
Joyce Brothers

A man is literally what he thinks.
James Allen

I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. And because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.
Hellen Keller

I think anytime you can affect people in general, in a positive way, then you're a lucky individual.
Sam Elliott

Live life to the fullest, and focus on the positive.
Matt Cameron

I believe that you should gravitate to people who are doing productive and positive things with their lives.
Nadia Comaneci

You must not, under any pretense, allow your mind to dwell on any thought that is not positive, constructive, optimistic, kind.
Emmet Fox

When the going got tough, I really had to draw on many of the same competitive instincts I did when I was skating. I really had to put my head down and stay positive. I had to fight.
Peggy Fleming

Whether you think that you can, or that you can't, you are usually right.
Henry Ford

You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you.
James Allen

I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.
William Ernest Henley

Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will. 
Zig Ziglar

It is better to believe than to disbelieve; in so doing, you bring everything to the realm of possibility.
Albert Einstein

You've done it before and you can do it now. See the positive possibilities. Redirect the substantial energy of your frustration and turn it into positive, effective, unstoppable determination.
Ralph Marston

Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine.
Anthony D'Angelo

It takes but one positive thought when given a chance to survive and thrive to overpower an entire army of negative thoughts.
Robert H. Schuller

We succeed in enterprises which demand the positive qualities we possess, but we excel in those which can also make use of our defects.
Alexis de Tocqueville

Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you'll start having positive results.
Willie Nelson

Happiness is an attitude. We either make ourselves miserable, or happy and strong. The amount of work is the same.
Francesca Reigler

Question: Why are we Masters of our Fate, the captains of our souls? Because we have the power to control our thoughts, our attitudes. That is why many people live in the withering negative world. That is why many people live in the Positive Faith world.
Alfred A. Montapert

We tend to live up to our expectations.
Earl Nightingale

When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.
Harriet Beecher Stowe

There are always flowers for those who want to see them.
Henri Matisse

There are no limitations to the mind except those we acknowledge.
Napoleon Hill

Work joyfully and peacefully, knowing that right thoughts and right efforts will inevitable bring about right results.
James Allen

The greatest revolution of our generation is the discovery that human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.
William James

That's my gift. I let that negativity roll off me like water off a duck's back. If it's not positive, I didn't hear it. If you can overcome that, fights are easy.
George Foreman

You should also appreciate the goodness around you, and surround yourself with positive people.
Nadia Comaneci

Positive feelings come from being honest about yourself and accepting your personality, and physical characteristics, warts and all; and, from belonging to a family that accepts you without question.
Willard Scott

To me every hour of the day and night is an unspeakably perfect miracle.
Walter Chrysler

The greatest discovery of our generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind. As you think, so shall you be.
William James

Like success, failure is many things to many people. With Positive Mental Attitude, failure is a learning experience, a rung on the ladder, a plateau at which to get your thoughts in order and prepare to try again.
W. Clement Stone

Fortunes gravitate to men whose minds have been prepared to attract them just as surely as water gravitates to the ocean.
Napoleon Hill

People deal too much with the negative, with what is wrong ... Why not try and see positive things, to just touch those things and make them bloom
Thich Nhat Hanh

A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes.
Mahatma Gandhi

Never let the fear of striking out get in your way.
Babe Ruth

Think positively and masterfully, with confidence and faith, and life becomes more secure, more fraught with action, richer in experience and achievement.
Edward Rickenbacker

If I can inspire someone to go in a positive way and pursue a dream, it can only be good.
Parminder Nagra

The positive thinker sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible.
Unknown

Optimism is the one quality more associated with success and happiness than any other.
Brian Tracy

For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.
Proverb 23:7 Bible

Few things in the world are more powerful than a positive push. A smile. A world of optimism and hope. A "you can do it" when things are tough.
Richard M. DeVos

A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
Winston Churchill

There is little difference in people, but that little difference makes a big difference. The little difference is attitude. The big difference is whether it is positive or negative.
W. Clement Stone

The most expensive piece of real estate is the six inches between your right and left ear. It’s what you create in that area that determines your wealth. We are only really limited by our mind.
Dolf de Roos

I want my life to effect the balance to the positive.
Mira Sorvino

Those who wish to sing, always find a song.
Swedish Proverb

Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.
Albert Einstein

Frustration, although quite painful at times, is a very positive and essential part of success.
Bo Bennett

A lot of times people look at the negative side of what they feel they can't do. I always look on the positive side of what I can do.
Chuck Norris

Success or failure depends more upon attitude than upon capacity  Successful men act as though they have accomplished or are enjoying something. Soon it becomes a reality. Act, look, feel successful, conduct yourself accordingly, and you will be amazed at the positive results.
William James

If you think about disaster, you will get it. Brood about death and you hasten your demise. Think positively and masterfully, with confidence and faith, and life becomes more secure, more fraught with action, richer in achievement and experience.
Swami Vivekananda

Play like you're positive on the victory, even though they're leading big now.
Knute Rockne

Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope or confidence.
Helen Keller

Where men of judgment creep and feel their way, the positive pronounce without dismay.
William Cowper

Life is a shipwreck but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats.
Voltaire

What happens is not as important as how you react to what happens.
Thaddeus Golas

The actual danger is nothing, and the positive advantages very great.
William John Wills

Winners make a habit of manufacturing their own positive expectations in advance of the event.
Brian Tracy

Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps a singing bird will come.
Chinese Proverb

Got no checkbooks, got no banks, still I'd like to express my thanks -
I got the sun in the morning and the moon at night.
Irving Berlin

Optimism is essential to achievement and it is also the foundation of courage and true progress.
Nicholas Murray Butler

"It's snowing still," said Eeyore gloomily.
"So it is," said Christopher Robin.
"And freezing."
"Is it?"
"Yes," said Eeyore. "However," he said, brightening up a little, "we haven't had an earthquake lately."
A.A. Milne

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Maggie Goes On A Diet: A Children's Book

First, let me say that I haven't read this book. It will be available in October. I have, though, read the author's description and those at sites taking advance orders. They are shared below.

In the book, Maggie Goes On A Diet, the focus is on Maggie's weight, her low self-esteem, and the cure ... dieting.  The cover shows a girl standing in front of a mirror, holding a frilly, pink dress that is too small for her, gazing at the smiling reflection of a smaller version of herself.

On the publisher's site Paul Michael Kramer describes the book:

Maggie has so much potential that has been hiding under her extra weight. This inspiring story about a 14 year old who goes on a diet and is transformed from being overweight and insecure to a normal sized teen who becomes the school soccer star. Through time, exercise and hard work, Maggie becomes more and more confident and develops a positive self image.

Barnes and Noble lists the book appropriate for 6-12 year olds. Their description:

This book is about a 14 year old girl who goes on a diet and is transformed from being extremely overweight and insecure to a normal sized girl who becomes the school soccer star. Through time, exercise and hard work, Maggie becomes more and more confident and develops a positive self image.

Amazon lists the book  appropriate for 4-8 year olds. Their description is the same as Barnes and Noble's.

The author states that "Maggie has so much potential that has been hiding under her extra weight," as if she cannot feel secure or reach her potential unless she diets, loses enough to be considered NORMAL weight, and uncovers it.

Dieting is not the answer. (Diet Myths and Eating Disorders) Does the author not know the connection between diets and eating disorders, or the ever growing issue of low self-esteem and body image?

Eating disorders are being reported in younger and younger children. According to the Journal of Pediatrics, in the US the number of children under the age of 12 who have been hospitalized for an eating disorder has increased by 119% from 1999-2006

• More than 50% of 10 year old girls wish they were thinner
• 8 million people in the US suffer from an ED with 90% being women/girls 
• 90 percent of women with eating disorders are between the ages of 12 and 25
• 80% of children are afraid of being fat
• 1 in every 100-200 adolescent girls are affected by Anorexia
• Anorexia is the 3rd most common chronic illness among adolescents
• Estimated: 11% of high school students have been diagnosed with an eating disorder
• 8 out 10 women are not happy with their reflection
• In your lifetime 50,000 people will die as a direct result of their Eating Disorder. 

 Find more stats here. 

ABC did a report on the book. Here is one excerpt:

...But that storybook plot line doesn't reflect what happens in real children's lives, warned Joanne Ikeda, a nutritionist emeritus at


Highlighting imperfections in a boy's or girl's body "does not empower a child to adopt good eating habits," Ikeda said.


In real life, dieting down to a smaller clothing size doesn't guarantee living happily ever after.


"Body dissatisfaction is a major risk for eating disorders in children all the way up through adulthood," she said.


Furthermore, role models like Maggie can perpetuate the idea that "if you don't look like Cinderella, you're a failure," Ikeda said. "I wouldn't want a child to read this ... because they might, in fact, try to do this and fail. What is that going to do to their self-esteem?"
Read ABC in full here.

Self-esteem and body image issues are a big concern. Children need to be taught that their self-worth is a constant, no matter their appearance. What is important is what is on the inside. They also need to learn to accept others for who they are, no matter what they look like. They need to know that every BODY deserves respect. 

The focus should never be on dieting and/or appearance. It should not be suggested that life begins as soon as you are thin and that all your dreams will come true if only you lose that weight. That's a dangerous message for any age. Healthy eating, proper nutrition, and healthy exercise should be a positive part of everyone's life, not dieting.

The Eating Disorders Coalition is asking that you make your voice be heard in this matter.

What's your opinion? Leave a comment and let us all know.

*Please note: I don't usually link so heavily in my posts but the volume of information and statistics are too many to list individually and thought it necessary to make them available. 


©Weighing The Facts
 

Recovery Quote Of The Week: August 19, 2011

I have found that if you love life, life will love you back.
Arthur Rubinstein


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ASAM Now Defines Addiction As Brain Disorder

Addiction receives a new definition:

MSNBC
Addiction is a chronic brain disorder and not simply a behavior problem involving alcohol, drugs, gambling or sex, experts contend in a new definition of addiction, one that is not solely related to problematic substance abuse.

The American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) just released this new definition of addiction after a four-year process involving more than 80 experts.

"At its core, addiction isn't just a social problem or a moral problem or a criminal problem. It's a brain problem whose behaviors manifest in all these other areas," said Dr. Michael Miller, past president of ASAM who oversaw the development of the new definition. "Many behaviors driven by addiction are real problems and sometimes criminal acts. But the disease is about brains, not drugs. It's about underlying neurology, not outward actions."

The new definition also describes addiction as a primary disease, meaning that it's not the result of other causes, such as emotional or psychiatric problems...

Read Addiction / Brain Disorder in full.

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Inspirational Recovery Quotes: Change

If you keep on doing what you've always done, you'll keep on getting what you've always got.
W. L. Bateman

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
Reinhold Niebuhr

They say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.
Andy Warhol

No one is in control of your happiness but you; therefore, you have the power to change anything about yourself or your life that you want to change.
Barbara de Angelis

 The key to change... is to let go of fear.
Rosanne Cash

 You can't punish yourself into change. You can't whip yourself into shape. But you can love yourself into well-being.
Susan Skye

The most important thing to remember is this: To be ready at any moment to give up what you are for what you might become.
William Edward Burghardt DuBois

He that never changes his opinions, never corrects his mistakes, and will never be wiser on the morrow than he is today.
Tryon Edwards

No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow.
Alice Walker

Without realizing it, you try to improve yourself at the start of each new day; of course, you achieve quite a lot in the course of time. Anyone can do this, it costs nothing and is certainly very helpful. Whoever doesn't know it must learn and find by experience that a quiet conscience makes one strong.
Anne Frank

The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew.
Abraham Lincoln

It doesn't matter how long we may have been stuck in a sense of our limitations. If we go into a darkened room and turn on the light, it doesn't matter if the room has been dark for a day, a week, or ten thousand years -- we turn on the light and it is illuminated. Once we control our capacity for love and happiness, the light has been turned on.
Sharon Salzberg 

You must be the change you wish to see in the world.
Gandhi

Continuity gives us roots; change gives us branches, letting us stretch and grow and reach new heights.
Pauline R. Kezer

Our only security is our ability to change.
John Lilly

Sometimes it's the smallest decisions that can change your life forever.
Keri Russell

The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.
Flora Whittemore

The price of doing the same old thing is far higher than the price of change.
Bill Clinton

It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.
Unknown

We all have big changes in our lives that are more or less a second chance.
Harrison Ford

The mind has exactly the same power as the hands; not merely to grasp the world, but to change it.
Colin Wilson

To change one's life, start immediately, do it flamboyantly, no exceptions.
William James

Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.
Maria Robinson

Things do not change; we change.
Henry David Thoreau

There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction.
Winston Churchill

All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.
Anatole France

The bamboo that bends is stronger than the oak that resists.
Japanese Proverb

For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

They must often change, who would be constant in happiness or wisdom.
Confucius

Life is a process. We are a process. The universe is a process.
Anne Wilson Schaef

What man actually needs is not a tension-less state but rather the striving and struggling for some goal worthy of him. What he needs is not the discharge of tension at any cost, but the call of a potential meaning waiting to be fulfilled by him.
Viktor Frankl

Change is the essence of life.Be willing to surrender what you are for what you could become.
Reinhold Niebuhr

I can be changed by what happens to me, but i refuse to be reduced by it.
Maya Angelou

Sometimes its the smallest decisions that can change your life forever.
Keri Russell

The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers.
M. Scott Peck

If there is no struggle, there is no progress.
Frederick Douglass

What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly.
Richard Bach

Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

Every beginning is a consequence - every beginning ends some thing.
Paul Valery

Relentless, repetitive self talk is what changes our self-image.
Denis Waitley

To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.
Henri Bergson

The first problem for all of us, men and women, is not to learn, but to unlearn.
Gloria Steinem

So long as a person is capable of self-renewal they are a living being.
Henri-Frederic Amiel

There is a danger of changing too much in the search for perfection.
Agnetha Faltskog

What you have become is the price you paid to get what you used to want.
Mignon McLaughlin

You may wonder, 'How can I leave it all behind if I am just coming back to it? How can I make a new beginning if I simply return to the old?' The answer lies in the return. You will not come back to the 'same old thing.' What you return to has changed because you have changed. Your perceptions will be altered. You will not incorporate into the same body, status, or world you left behind. The river has been flowing while you were gone. Now it does not look like the same river.
Steven Foster

Learn wisdom from the ways of a seedling. A seedling which is never hardened off through stressful situations will never become a strong productive plant.
Stephen Sigmund

The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.
Alan Watts

It's not so much that we're afraid of change or so in love with the old ways, but it's that place in between that we fear . . . . It's like being between trapezes. It's Linus when his blanket is in the dryer. There's nothing to hold on to.
Marilyn Ferguson

If you would attain to what you are not yet, you must always be displeased by what you are. For where you are pleased with yourself there you have remained. Keep adding, keep walking, keep advancing.
Saint Augustine

There's only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that's your own self.
Aldous Huxley

Change always comes bearing gifts.
Price Pritchett

If you don't create change, change will create you.
Unknown

A lot of people get impatient with the pace of change.
James Levine

Loyalty to a petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul.
Mark Twain

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.
Lao Tzu

Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts.
Arnold Bennett

Change brings opportunity.
Nido Qubein

If you accept the expectations of others, especially negative ones, then you never will change the outcome.
Michael Jordan

To change your life, you need to change your priorities.
John C. Maxwell

Never believe that a few caring people can't change the world. For, indeed, that's all who ever have.
Margaret Mead

If we don't change, we don't grow. If we don't grow, we aren't really living.
Gail Sheehy

Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.
Harriet Tubman

Action and reaction, ebb and flow, trial and error, change - this is the rhythm of living. Out of our over-confidence, fear; out of our fear, clearer vision, fresh hope. And out of hope, progress.
Bruce Barton

It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.
C. S. Lewis

If you want things to be different, perhaps the answer is to become different yourself.
Norman Vincent Peale

The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may also be the beginning.
Ivy Baker Priest

Never doubt that you can change history. You already have.
Marge Piercy

Lord, where we are wrong, make us willing to change; where we are right, make us easy to live with.
Peter Marshall

If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.
Lao Tzu

We cannot change our past. We can not change the fact that people act in a certain way. We can not change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude.
Charles R. Swindoll

Always remember that the future comes one day at a time.
Dean Acheson

Nothing that is can pause or stay;
The moon will wax, the moon will wane,
The mist and cloud will turn to rain,
The rain to mist and cloud again,
Tomorrow be today.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I cannot say whether things will get better if we change; what I can say is they must change if they are to get better.
G.C. Lichtenberg

If we fall, we don't need self-recrimination or blame or anger - we need a reawakening of our intention and a willingness to re-commit, to be whole-hearted once again.
Sharon Salzberg

People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built.
Eleanor Roosevelt

All change is not growth, as all movement is not forward.
Ellen Glasgow

Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely.
Unknown

Fear is the cheapest room in the house. I would like to see you living in better conditions.
Hafiz of Persia

Things alter for the worse spontaneously, if they be not altered for the better designedly.
Francis Bacon

We know what we are, but know not what we may be.
Shakespeare

Life is a progress, and not a station.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

We seek not rest but transformation. We are dancing through each other as doorways.
Marge Piercy

Change alone is eternal, perpetual, immortal.
Arthur Schopenhauer

The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.
Carl Rogers

There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
Anais Nin


*See sidebar menu for more Inspirational Recovery Quotes and Recovery Quotes of the Week.


picsource:http://www.flickr.com/photos/tzung-tze/3570699876/

Recovery Quote Of The Week: August 11, 2011

Continuity gives us roots; change gives us branches, letting us stretch and grow and reach new heights.
Pauline R. Kezer



*See sidebar menu for more Recovery Quotes Of The Week and Inspirational Recovery Quotes 


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Be Body Positive Day 2011 is Right Around the Corner

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Bombarded by images and messages from the media, and society in general, women are faced with often impossible standards to hold ourselves and our bodies to.

April 7th, 2011 welcomes the second annual Be Body Positive Day. It's all about loving yourself, loving your body, and seeking healthy pleasures. It's your right! 


The event is the creation of the non-profit organization,  
The Body Positive: 

The Body Positive is a community of women and girls who support each other in laying down the burdens of judgment, comparison, and shame. We include ourselves—and all women—in our definition of beauty because we believe that soul expression and life force are the qualities that make a woman truly attractive. We have chosen to pursue joyful healthy lives with a focus on purposeful living.

So take this day to treat yourself to some extra special, self-loving activities and appreciate yourself and all women, everywhere.

Do at least one thing that makes you feel great about your body! 


Ideas to help celebrate Be Body Positive Day:

• Write yourself a love letter.
• Go for a walk along the beach, in the woods, or somewhere you love, and take notice of all the beauty around you. Bring your camera with you!
• Take your favorite book into the tub and have a long soak. 
• Squelch those negative thoughts and replace them with positive, self-appreciative ones.
• Journal about how wonderful your body is.
• Remind yourself how grateful you are to be you.

 What are you going to do to celebrate Be Body Positive Day?



Connect with The Body Positive: 
Org  
Facebook
Twitter



picsource:http://www.flickr.com/photos/luder5/4223909842/

Eating Disorders: Music For Recovery

Recover by Natasha Bedingfield
Video by beeyout

At the end of the video is a "recovering" photo from the post Dear Eating Disorder, Take this job and shove...   that you may be interested in reading. 



*See sidebar menus for more ED and Body Image videos. 

Inspirational Recovery Quotes: Joy

Joy is prayer - Joy is strength - Joy is love - Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.  
Mother Teresa 

Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.
Henri Nouwen

Allow yourself to trust joy and embrace it. You will find you dance with everything.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

 The certain pathway to all things that you want is through the corridor of joy.
Abraham-Hicks

May your walls know joy; May every room hold laughter and every window open to great possibility.

Maryanne Radmacher-Hershey

 

Simplicity, clarity, singleness: these are the attributes that give our lives power and vividness and joy.
Richard Halloway

 

Joy is a return to the deep harmony of body, mind, and spirit that was yours at birth and that can be yours again. That openness to love, that capacity for wholeness with the world around you, is still within you.
Deepak Chopra 

 

Joy is not in things; it is in us.

Richard Wagner

 

A joyful life is an individual creation that cannot be copied from a recipe.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

 

Don't postpone joy until you have learned all of your lessons. Joy is your lesson.

Alan Cohen

 

Begin today. Declare out-loud to the universe that you are willing to let go of struggle and eager to learn through joy.
Sarah Ban Breathnach

We are shaped by our thoughts, we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves. 

Buddha

  

Listen to the clues. The next time you feel real joy, stop and think. Pay attention. Because joy is the universe’s way of knocking on your mind’s door. Hello in there. Is anyone home? Can I leave a message? Yes? Good! The message is that you are happy, and that means that you are in touch with your purpose.  

Steve Chandler

The sun does not shine for a few trees and flowers, but for the wide world’s joy.
Henry Ward Beecher

 

My mind to me a kingdom is, such present joys I therein find, that it excels all other bliss.

Sir Edward Dyer

I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.
David Cameron Gikandi 

 

The closer you come to your core, the greater is your joy.
Torkom Saraydarin

 

The walls we build around us to keep sadness out also keeps out the joy.

Jim Rohn

 

Increase your joy by doing the good you wish to have done to you.
Daisaku Ikeda

 

We learn in our guts, not just in our brain, that a life of joy is not in seeking happiness, but in experiencing and simply being the circumstances of our life as they are; not in fulfilling personal wants, but in fulfilling the needs of life…
Charlotte Jojo Beck 

 

Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it. 

Greg Anderson

 

Joy is the infallible sign of the presence of God.
Madeleine L'Engle 

 

Whatever I do is done out of sheer joy; I drop my fruits like a ripe tree. What the general reader or the critic makes of them is not my concern.
Henry Miller 

Joy, has no cost.
Marianne Williamson

We could never learn to be brave and patient, if there were only joy in the world. 
Helen Keller

 The joy of a spirit is the measure of its power.
Ninon de Lenclos

 

To attract something that you want, become as joyful as you think that thing would make you.
Martha Beck

Your success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties. 
Helen Keller 

 

When you recover or discover something that nourishes your soul and brings joy, care enough about yourself to make room for it in your life.
Jean Shinoda Bolen

The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way.
William Blake 

 

Not what we have but what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance.
Epicurus 

 

One joy shatters a hundred griefs.

Chinese Proverb

 

You will find joy in overcoming obstacles.
Helen Keller

 

The greatest gift you can give yourself is joy, not only because of the feeling that goes with it at the moment, but because of the magnificent experience it will draw to you. It will produce wonders in your life.
Jack Boland 

I feel like a tiny bird with a big song!
J.Van Amerongen 

Instead of asking 'How much damage will the work in question bring about?' why not ask 'How much good? How much joy?

Henry Miller

 

Joy is not the result of getting what you want; it is the way to get what you want. In the deepest sense, joy is what you want.
Alan Cohen

The only joy in the world is to begin.
Cesare Pavese

 

Love, joy and peace cannot flourish until you have freed yourself from mind dominance.
Eckhart Tolle

Do not judge men by mere appearances; for the light laughter that bubbles on the lip often mantles over the depths of sadness, and the serious look may be the sober veil that covers a divine peace and joy.
Edward Chapin

Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy.
Leo Buscaglia 

 

Joy is what happens when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are.

Marianne Williamson 

 

Only by joy and sorrow does a person know anything about themselves and their destiny. They learn what to do and what to avoid.
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe 

Participate joyfully in the sorrows of the world. We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy.
Joseph Campbell 

 

The only true measure of success is the amount of joy we are feeling.
Abraham-Hicks

 

All animals except man know that the principal business of life is to enjoy it.
Samuel Butler

 

Sprinkle joy.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

Be a dynamo of irrepressible joy!
Babaji

The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding.
Leonardo da Vinci 

Learning to live in the present moment is part of the path to joy.

Sarah Ban Breathnach 

 

With an eye made quiet by the power of harmony, and the deep power of joy, we see into the life of things.
William Wordsworth 

 

Health is the greatest possession. Contentment is the greatest treasure. Confidence is the greatest friend. Non-being is the greatest joy.
Lao Tzu

Find ecstasy in life; the mere sense of living is joy enough.
Emily Dickinson 

He who binds to himself a joy does the winged life destroy; But he who kisses the joy as it flies lives in eternity's sun rise.
William Blake 

 

He sendeth sun, he sendeth shower, alike they’re needed to the flower; and joys and tears alike are sent to give the soul its nourishment.

Sarah Flower Adams

The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other's life.
Richard Bach 

 

From joy springs all creation, by joy it is sustained, towards joy it proceeds, and unto joy it returns.
Upanishads

Who will tell whether one happy moment of love or the joy of breathing or walking on a bright morning and smelling the fresh air, is not worth all the suffering and effort which life implies.
Erich Fromm 

 

When you wish someone joy, you wish them peace, love, prosperity, happiness…all the good things.
Maya Angelou

 The greatest obstacle to connecting with our joy is resentment.
Pema Chodron 

 

When we are centered in joy, we attain our wisdom.
Marianne Williamson

 

To awaken each morning with a smile brightening my face; to greet the day with reverence for the opportunities it contains; to approach my work with a clean mind; to hold ever before me, even in the doing of little things, the ultimate purpose toward which I am working; to meet men and women with laughter on my lips and love in my heart; to be gentle, kind, and courteous through all the hours; to approach the night with weariness that ever woos sleep and the joy that comes from work well done - this is how I desire to waste wisely my days.
Thomas Dekker  

 

We laugh to survive. Then, with joy we thrive.
Mary Anne Radmacher  

  *See Sidebar Menu for more Recovery Quotes and Quotes of the Week.

pic source:http://www.flickr.com/photos/supersonicphotos/4444746911/sizes/l/in/photostream/

Eating Disorders Seen Around The Web: August 2, 2011

Profile: Sam Thomas-Men Get Eating Disorders Too
The Mirror

Sam Thomas, founder and project leader at Men Get Eating Disorders Too, entered the TalkTalk Digital Heroes Award in 2010 with the aim of making more people area of the issue of eating disorders amongst men and be a port of call for those affected or worried by it. And like many of the best projects, it was one that was born from personal experience.

Sam got the idea for Men Get Eating Disorders Too from his own experience with bulimia, which he experienced during his time school: “I used to get bullied quite badly, and used to run out of lessons and hide in the boys’ toilets. I’d often binge and purge, but didn’t think too much of it; of course, as a thirteen-year-old you don’t think about eating disorders and you certainly haven’t heard of bulimia.
“When I did start looking for help, I struggled because I was male. Only once I had recovered did I think to myself ‘hang on a minute, if I was a female....
Read Men Get Eating Disorders Too in full


Sexualization of Young Children Linked to Eating Disorder Development
AOL Healthy Living

As early exposure to themes of sex becomes the norm, children of younger ages are expressing discontent with their physical appearance. Results from a recent survey suggest that children rank body image among the highest of their concerns, above both self-confidence and social life. Recent research also suggests that nearly 50 percent of females between ages 11 and 16 would consider cosmetic surgery to improve their appearance.

These findings have striking implications about the factors comprising young children's self-image and esteem. Eating disorders are now presenting in children as young as 6 years old, with dieting becoming more common among those under the age of 10.

Such ardent focus on physical appearance also comes in response to overly-sexualized messages from the media.
Read Sexualization of Young Children Linked To EDs in full


Mental Health: Eating Disorders
BBC News

Every year about 20 people in Britain die from anorexia - the eating disorder which compels them to deprive their bodies of food.

It is thought that about 165,000 Britons have some sort of eating disorder.
Most sufferers are female, although the latest evidence suggests about one in ten is now a male.
One person who developed anorexia at the relatively late age of 27 is Victoria Buchan, who lives near Grampound Road in mid Cornwall.

She admitted for a while she did her best to hide the anorexia from her doctor.
"There was always a response, always something I could hide behind," she said.
"Because of wearing baggy clothes they might not have seen I was losing weight."
Read Mental Health: Eating Disorders in full



Quick Hit: The Fat Femme’s Guide to Lovin’Summer
Happy Bodies

Aimee Fleck, a fantastic student at the Maryland Institute College of Art, made a little zine called The Fat Femme’s Guide to Loving Summer.  Inside there are interviews with some really foxy ladies, instructions on how to make friendship bracelets, a recipe for beignets, new hairstyles to try, a playlist, and lots of suggestions for great summer fashion. It’s all beautifully, colorfully drawn and very well designed, plus sassy and fun.  The zine is also getting plenty of tumblr love, which makes me really happy.
Read The Fat Femme's Guide in full


10 Questions To Ask Yourself About Anger
Hope Forward

By no means am I suggesting that the answers to the following questions are easy, readily available to you, or in any way obvious, though some may be. I think, rather, that they may serve as guide posts toward progress, relief, and insight. While anger is not always the culprit, it does often lurk underneath depression, anxiety, restlessness, discontent, or irritability. While certain angers are clear and apparent, others are more subtle. I think it pays to pay attention to them. Having anger does not mean that you are an angry person, that you have a temper; it just means that you have real feelings, some old, some new, and that tending to them may improve your life in many ways. How we feel anger, what we do with it, is usually based on a mix of genetic, hormonal, biochemical and socialcultural factors. Given that, we can ask ourselves the following questions in our quest to feel better.

1) How was anger expressed or suppressed in my family?

2) What are my earliest memories of feeling angry? With whom? For what? What other feelings do these memories bring up?
Read 10 Questions in full


Genetics Complicate Recovery From Eating Disorders
Psych Central

Sadly, people with eating disorders often face a long-term battle. Those with anorexia nervosa, for instance, are often severely underweight and have a high likelihood of dying from malnutrition.

Now, a new study sheds light on why some people have poor outcomes.

An international team of scientists has identified possible genetic variations that could influence a patient’s recovery from an eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia. Researchers believe their findings may augment development of effective interventions for the most treatment-resistant patients with these disorders.
Read Genetics Complicate Recovery in full